In the personal care industry, many types of containers have been developed for packaging a variety of items or products such as, unit dose medicants, pills, tablets, capsules, condoms, contact lenses, and the like. One typical type of packaging or packet is the conventional blister pack and another is the pouch. In a typical blister pack, a thermoforming technique is used to fabricate a plastic shell containing individual blisters or a tray of blisters for holding small consumable items. A backing sheet, generally comprising a foil material, is affixed to the back of the shell, thereby enclosing at least one item in a corresponding blister. To release an item from a blister, a user applies pressure to a blister forcing the item to rupture the backing sheet. The blister pack or a tray including items is often inserted within an outer sleeve for safely storing and protecting the items therein. The outer sleeve often includes child-resistant features, such as, locking mechanisms that are configured to releasably remove the blister pack or tray from the sleeve. A drawback of the conventional blister package is that when the blister pack or tray is lockably removed from the outer sleeve, the entire contents of the package is exposed, making all of the items available at once. Similar drawbacks exist with other types of packets.
Alternative dispensing containers have been designed for dispensing one or more packets. These conventional dispensing containers generally comprise a container including a chamber, a release slot, and a plurality of releasably attached packets that are folded or rolled and housed within the dispensing container. A packet is accessed by slideably removing the blister from the release slot. Generally, these dispensing containers are relatively expensive to manufacture because the containers generally include a plurality of complex parts that require additional time to manufacture and assemble. A further disadvantage of some dispensing containers is that they do not include child-resistant safety features. The packets can be continuously removed from the dispensing container and as a result, a child may continuously pull on the length of attached packets to gain access to all the packets at once.
It is desirable that packages holding consumable goods, such as pills or medicines packaged in packets, include child-resistant features that limit the amount of items being dispensed at one time. It is further desirable that the package be senior friendly to permit easy withdrawal of the package contents.
Accordingly, there remains in the art a need for a dispensing container that is inexpensive, light-weight, simple and easy to manufacture and assemble, and includes child-resistant safety features that require multiple coordinated motions for dispensing in a regulated manner. There is also a need for an apparatus that is senior friendly to permit easy withdrawal of the package contents with little manipulation, even if the user's manual dexterity or strength is reduced.